Francene Watson

Francene Watson is a former high school English and humanities teacher, and continues her work in education on projects connected to environmental sustainability, social justice, and wellbeing. Dr. Watson’s teaching, service, and scholarship are interdisciplinary and explore the inherent, critical complexities of sustainability, land and place-based learning in P-20, pre-service teacher education and professional development.

Research

Dr. Watson’s research focuses on pre-service teacher education and in-service professional development. Projects stem from the critical need to establish culturally responsive and sustaining, abolitionist, socially just, and enlivened learning spaces in our schools from a community-based approach. Using participatory and community-based action research models, current project foci work to connect food, land, water (namely the Snake and Columbia Rivers) and people, bringing these intersections into a P-20 curricular platform.

Education

Ph.D. in Education, Washington State University, 2012, Cultural Studies and Social Thought in Education

M.Ed. Education, Western Washington University, 1998, Secondary English

B.A. English, Seattle University, 1993